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Thursday, December 17, 2015

I'm back for another "Throwback Thursday" post! Today I wanted to share a fun trip I took with Scarlett, my mom, and my sister this past summer at the end of July. We decided to plan a trip to Idlewild Park, a small amusement/water park in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, about a 2.5-hour drive from home. I went to Idlewild Park as a child, and I believe even my parents went when they were young. It's an amusement park geared toward very young children, perfect for Scarlett's age. On top of that, they recently revamped their "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood" attraction and turned it into a "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" attraction. Being that my little peanut is pretty much the world's biggest Daniel Tiger fan, we knew this would be the perfect place to visit.

We spent an entire Saturday there, and it was absolutely perfect.

It was a beautiful day! And the setting of the park is just gorgeous.

Daniel Tiger!!!! Scarlett was freaking out!

She could not believe she got to see Daniel's house and knock on his door. (This is where there Daniel Tiger show is located in the afternoons).

The best part of the day: A trolley ride through Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. Seeing her excitement and wonder was one of my favorite moments of the summer.

They have a cute "Storybook Forest" area too. Unfortunately, Scarlett was having a meltdown when we first arrived and we had planned to try again later. But by the time we got back, it had closed! We were bummed, but Luke and I actually ended up taking Scarlett back to Idlewild later in the summer, and were able to see it. But more on that in a future post! Anyway, it was a cute area.

And here's a flashback to 25 years ago in the exact same spot! (Although they have obviously repainted the big book). Here's little me with some family friends (I'm wearing the polka dots. And I'm pretty sure that's a mullet. it was 1990, after all.):

Anyway, back to 2015. Here are Mom, Julie, and Scarlett waiting for the Daniel Tiger show to start

Katerina showed up...Scarlett's favorite! She was beside herself.

...But she totally froze up for the meet and greet afterwards. Ha! I have to admit, Daniel Tiger and Katerina Kittycat at that size were a bit creepy.

Later, we went to the waterpark, and Scarlett found her own personal puddle. This kept her busy for at least 20 minutes.

And then we rode the teacups a few times

We topped off our day with some ice cream, dinner later at Panera, and swimming in the hotel pool.

The next day we went to a local animal park called "Living Treasures Animal Park." We purchased a bag of carrots there, and were able to feed most of the animals there by hand. A really fun experience, especially for my sister, the animal-lover.

The Wallabies were our favorites.

If you look closely, you can see a little Joey in her pouch. So cool!

I had so much fun with my mom, sister, and Scarlett! I hope we can have more girls' trips in the future.

If you live in the area, I would highly recommend both Idlewild Park and Living Treasures Animal Park. They're both very unique and fun places to visit.

We've had a little visitor in our house the last few weeks, and he has been causing quite a stir! Here are some pictures to show what he's been up to:

He first arrived by coming down the chimney. Trying to be like Santa, I guess. He left some treats for Scarlett along with a note.

Day 2: Snacks with Elsa. And Elsa froze the milk!

Day 3: An impostor! Buzz and Woody were not happy.

Day 4: Making reindeer friends, just like the elf from Rudolph.

Day 5: Making s'mores

Day 6: Elfie read "The Polar Express" and decided to take a train ride of his own.

Day 7: bath time

Day 8: Picnic in the Hundred Acre Wood.

Close-up:

Day 9: Elf bowling

Day 10: Elfie drew on the tub with bath crayons that he left for Scarlett.

Day 11: toilet-papering the Christmas tree, and trying to make a quick getaway

Day 12: Elfie made his own gingerbread house since Scarlett made one that morning as well.

Day 13: Sitting in Scarlett's tree (I think Elfie was tired and out of ideas that day).

Day 14: playing the part of a wiseman

Day 15: Reading a book to his friends from The Peanuts Gang.

Day 16: Elfie loves syrup!

Day 17: Elfie found our Dollar Tree sticker stash.

I've been loving every minute of having Elfie here. It's a weird, strange little creative outlet for me that gives Scarlett a blessing each day. One of my favorite things to do is create experiences which lead to memories, and I think Elf on the Shelf is a great way to do that. It doesn't hurt that it reinforces good behavior as well!

Thursday, December 10, 2015

I'm going to try to do a "Throwback Thursday" post now and then, now that I'm back into this blogging game, and have so much to catch up on. Today I wanted to highlight Scarlett's second birthday party.

During the spring and summer time, Scarlett became pretty obsessed with "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh." She picked that as the theme for her birthday party. I had so much fun planning the party! Fewer things in life are more fun for me than kid party planning!

Scarlett's birthday is July 11, so we had been moved into our house for a couple of months at that time, and were so excited to have her party here! Our back patio was the perfect place for the food setup. Our colors were yellow and red in honor of Winnie the Pooh and his red t-shirt.

We already had the many stuffed animals that served as party decor. The string of lights hanging around the table came from the Target Dollar Spot.

I printed out the map of the Hundred Acre Wood from somewhere free online. And the little beehive luminary came from Pat Catan's, I believe.

I got a bunch of terra cotta pots, stuck on these scrapbook bee stickers, used a permanent marker to write "hunny" on each, and painted the "honey" around the top. So simple and cheap!

We sat these books in random places. I found some of them at Goodwill for $1 each, and my mother-in-law just happened to have some of the same books as well.

Luke made this adorable sign from scrap wood. It might have been my favorite thing, and we love it so much, it's still out in our yard.

I used Power Point to create this banner

I found these lanterns at Hobby Lobby for a few bucks apiece, and I believe we found the bees at Pat Catan's.

I decided to make homemade cupcakes instead of spending a ton of money on a cake. And I made the little tags in Power Point.

Here we are at party time! Scarlett picked out her dress, and to my delight it was on clearance at Target for $8! Score!

I tried to get creative with the food labels (which, again, were created in Power Point).

I love how these "Tigger Tails" turned out! Just pretzel sticks covered with orange candy melts, and drizzled with melted chocolate.

...And the next few are pictures of everyone at the party. It was a fun day! Thanks to all of our family and friends who celebrated with us!